rayke1938

What power unit does it have? Auto pilot? Radar? Decent radio that will work in the tropics ? ( Bit iffy relying on others to relay forecasts) Not very nice up north in cyclone season. Mobiles do not cut it 100k out.

Bit cool at 6am this morning and the fish were feeling it. I was told that there were a few fish around the entrance of the launch bay but they were sleeping in this morning as well as all the way down to fad2 and the fig tree. We then headed up to the powerlines with the same result and were heading back to the ramp contemplating how we would explain the dreaded donut when we found a school of small bass in 16ft of water. Filled in the survey sheet with 25 bass in an hour with the best fish goingjustover30cm.

38 for Neil 25 Rick and I was dismal last.

Fish looking better quality than hinze fish only a few fish in hinze looking roed up. Hinze been spilling since december and a lot have gone over wall. Been 4 recaptures downstream in last fortnight.

Cool start at western arm this morning with Rick and Neil as deckies. Was a cool run down to opposite the white post with the westerly helping us along. Hit the spot lock in a couple of spots before finding a school on the edge of a drop off with the water going between 42 and 50 feet. only one photo as the battery in my camera was flat. I took one photo of Rick trying to hide behind a nice 47 cm bass with my phone. As my computer cannot find my phone I took a photo of my phone so it is not very good. Final tally not as good as the last couple of trips but still respectable with 74 bass boated.

Not all make it over the wall.

Off to the Hinze western arm solo today. As i had to do the pots myself and I did not wish to get wet and cold I wore a plastic pinny for most of the day and it worked a treat. A lot better than using a mac and waterproof breeks. I then proceeded downstream to near the white post where we found the bass last time. They were not schooled up like last time but scattered over a larger area. Would catch 4 or five and they would move so it was just a matter of following them on the sounder. They were sitting at the 20 feet mark no matter what the depth of the water was. Ended up with 53 fish on the counter. Largest would have just gone 40cm

Had a good day for a change. Water is starting to clear with visibility increased to one foot. One of deckies is a bit soft complaining that I took to park after launching. Reckoned it was a bit cool standing in the water with a gentle westerly blowing at 10k with temp 4 degrees whilst holding the boat. I had plenty of shrimp left from last trip so we headed downstream to where the fish were last trip to discover that they had moved. We explored in the bay as it was out of the wind but still cold as it was in the shady side of the hills. Andrew cracked the donut with a tandan but nothing else found so out we went into the open water in the wind. We found a school out in front of the white post just upstream of the viewing area and knocked off at 11 am with a tally of 109 bass with the best bass going37cm. Both Andrew and Hai had a little comp seeing how many fish they could catch on the one shrimp and they both tied at 4 each. A lot of the bass were under but a bass is a bass.

Shame we are not allowed to tag in NPD anymore. Just goes to show how far they can go. There was a report of one from Wivenhoe recaptured at the port last week.

Thick pea and ham soup with chili chorizo floating in it

They recover but the damaged fins do not grow back straight away

I have been waiting for over a month for Hinze dam to reopen and Friday when I saw that SEQ water reopened the western arm I said that is it I am off first chance. 6am launch with a sneaky freezing westerly as soon as I ventured out of the ramp bay having a drastic effect on my bladder with a major operation with several layers of clothes to delve through to obtain some relief. Talk about just in time. Water is very discoloured with about 6 inches of visibility so I headed upstream to see if I could locate a fish. By 10 am I gave up and turned around and headed downstream and found a school of fish on a small drop off in a bay down towards the dam wall. No monsters with the fish going between 25 and 38cm. A few of the smaller bass had fin rot probably due to poor water quality. The school dispersed after around an hour and I unsuccessfully kept on searching to see if I could find more fish . Back at the ramp and happy with a tally of 17 bass. Cheers Ray

Bit hard leaving the fire this morning. Met Hai at gentleman's hour of 6.30at the gate because I under estimated the traffic. The shrimp traps were chocka and the water was chocolate brown as we headed downstream. We tried quite a few spots and not a thing on the sounder so by the time we got to fad 2 we decided to accept the advice that someone had written in the sign in book and head upstream. Ran into Kev at the powerlines who said he had been getting a few at the powerlines but they had gone off. A bit further up on the LHS we found a good show on the sounder ajnd quickly boated 3 nice fat bass that were released for someone else to enjoy. We worked our way up to the barrage ad then turner around had headed back towards Kev who said he was still getting the odd fish. We spotlocked near him and Hai dropped one fish and we moved on as it was a bit rude sitting on top of Kev. Back at the ramp by midday and happy with a total of 3 bass,

Finally got out on the dam with only half a boat. Last time i was out I noticed that the screws holding the seat down were loose. What I thought was only a minor job turned out to a major. The rear section of the floor was rotten due to me sealing all around the floor when I installed it several years ago. The boat sits out in the open and when it rains the carpet is sodden the the water got into the screw holes for the seats. the wet weather and with the dams closed it was a bit of a bonus but the last few days were sending me stir crazy and even though the boat was half finished I said stuff it I am going fishing. Only one seat installed no top on the new battery box and carpet just roughly installed but at least I got out for the grand total of one forky. See the eagles are commencing to rebuild their nest in the dead tree for the third time.

do not forget to budget for battery and charger

oj made in Belgium

Weather was ok little wind .bit of drizzle and fog . Bonus was dropped into Harry Browns on the way home and picked up 2 X 30 pack of beer at $23 a slab cheaper than coke or pepsi.

https://www.facebook.com/669291303/videos/309437041368735/

Donut day today apart from 2 forkies.We travelled all over the downstream part of the dam and could not raise a bite. ( The forkies were in a redclaw pot) Water is chocolate brown. I have 4 other redclaw pots in a bay and could only see 3 floats and it is impossible to reach them due to the debris that has collected in the bay. Spotted a small brown frog that was sitting on top of fad 2. There was 2 small brown eagles in the trees on the tip of the island and whenever they ventured out over the water the 2 large sea eagles from the dead tree would attack them. We saw quite a few feathers flying. Weather was not too bad with only slight drizzle and mist with the sun even coming out as we left. Reckon it will be a couple of weeks for the water to clear you can see the colour of the water in the first photo. Cheers Ray

Did a solo trip this morning as I was unable to go yesterday. Wet and cold one forky one bass was good to have hot shower when I got home. Cheers Ray

He took off his suit coat and tie as he did not wish to appear too posh for the forum. No need to get dirty when catch and release fishing.

SEQ water only allows daylight hours. Depends on who owns the dams

Had a good day between the three of us. Murray started off on what he called a monster fish that turned into a 4 ft eel. We did not find any fish till we reached the tip of the island at around 9am. By this time the sun had come out and it turned into a beautiful day with glassed out conditions. We ended up with 65 bass,5 spanglies.5 forkies, one tandan and one eel when we left them biting at midday when we ran out of bait.

Better day today with 37 bass and 2 scaleless grunting bass. Took a while to find any quality with several spots barren an.d nothing on the sounder. Finally caught 2 X 25 cm bass on fad 2 so I was happy for no donut. Tried a couple of spots on the way to the floats ad finally caught a just legal yella and some undersized bass on the floats before deciding to look for some better fish. Sounded all over the basin even going to the far marker where I recovered a shrimp pot that went walkies during the flood. Finally found a school of bigger bass on the drop off near the end of the island leaving them biting at midday.